The First Grader's Garden Party

Cinco de Mayo Birthday Fiesta

i mustache you a question

April Birthday Girl

Bei Bei celebrated her golden birthday this month when she turned seven on the seventh. It's always such a relief to me that our "Baby Bea" arrived after her due date! (Her predicted "due date" suggested her arrival would fall on the same April date that Mr Johnson and I share already share!)

She waited five days and joined instead what we have dubbed the "April Team."

I was still jet-lag groggy this April 7th, but we wanted to do a little something extra for our golden girl. Friends of ours decorate their boys doors on their birthdays, and although I thought Bei Bei would love it, I wasn't certain. Would she'd feel trapped with a paper covering, or delighted that she would get to make a triumphant exit through the paper? Erring on the side of caution, we decorated the backside of her door with golden streamers and a banner. Next year, she has assured us, she would love to have her door decorated over!





breakfast in bed

The Birthday Girl

Twenty-five Things

Well the old blog over @ the Johnson's has been quiet for a while.

It's the 25th of the month and ...

There.has.not.been.one.post.

I'll make up for it now.

Twenty-Five Things We've done in January!

1. Rang in the New Year with a trip to Chitown on New Year's Day
(Zoo Lights @ Lincoln Park and Hotpot in Chinatown)
2. Endured the single digits
3. Relented and let the kids go back to school after a wonderful week in the Carribean,
followed by a week hanging out at home.
4. Packed Mr Johnson up for his bi-weekly jaunt to Milwaukee
5. Watched the mercury climb to nearly 50 degrees
6. Sent The Littles out to play on a balmy January day
7. Rushed The Middle to the ER when she bashed her head on the playground on said balmy day. (Which is also the Friday afternoon the Tai Tai came home and said, "Put that homework away, and go outside and play ... it's gorgeous out there!")
8. Middle got a warm blanket, and five staples, and admiration from the ER staff for her poised nine-year-old calmness. (She also got a sample staple to show her classmates!)
9. Felt the mercury plummet again. (Winter in the Chicagoland ... gotta love it!)
10. Two Basketball Tourneys for MGJ (Go #20!!)
11. Planned a Swimming party for 16 fourth graders. (Thank you Pinterest).
12. Had staples removed.
13. Hosted successful birthday party replete with pizza and a belly flop contest.
14. Coached The Littlest through her first mini chapter books for AR.
15. Urged her to read nightly.
16. (Received a note home from the teacher commenting that she thinks our first grader might be a little too competitive about the accelerated reader program.)
17. Said overly-competitive child looses the first of her top teeth.
Her smile is forever changed; her baby days behind her!
18. Hit the Aquarium and Millennium Park on MLK day
19. Celebrated EHJ's actual birthday with breakfast in bed and brownies for her class.
20. Attended Ortho appointments
21. Received pummeling of snow
22. Played in the snow,
23. Celebrated Chinese New Year with friends and family @ our favorite Sichuan joint
24. Basketball, Basketball, Basketball, Basketball (four games this week!)
25. The Tai Tai caught up on her blog ...

Rhubarb ...

For all the rouge growth in our tangle of a yard in the half decade of our absence, there are one or two bright spots: the lilacs have doubled in size; the boxwoods are {finally} a nice shape and size; and the rhubarb... oh the rhubarb!

Rhubarb is one of Mr Johnson's favorites. (Although he recently confessed that he doesn't like it in crumble or crisp form). Last summer we ate our fill over home leave. And there is a possibility that some sour stalks may have been wrapped in newspaper before we departed Vancouver last summer and slipped into a duffel bag. It is possible that they were not detected by customs or security, and we may or may not have feasted on that impossible import twice .... stretching three chopped cups into two different recipes. That might have happened.

Our oldest turns twelve today. Our oldest who has a mature palate for her age and an interest in a variety of flavour combos. So for her birthday she's not getting a cake, but a clafoutis. She sampled the still bubbling, not-too-sweet goodness after school, and confirmed what I guessed when I perused this first-time-recipe ... she loved it.

So, because it's so yummy, and because you might have your own rhubarb patch out back, I'll include the recipe here (with apologies to all my friends in QD who cannot get rhubarb ... if it makes you feel any better I can't get pomelo or Korean pears here, or reasonably priced or locally grown cherries ).

Spiced Strawberry Rhubarb Clafoutis
from the Interweb on a google search

Fruit
1 lb ripe strawberries, hulled and halved
1 cup rhubarb (about 2 stalks), diced
4 tbsp butter
1/3 cup sugar

Batter
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
3 eggs
3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 whole milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp fresh-ground black pepper

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-inch cake pan or casserole dish.

In a sauté pan, melt the butter. Add the rhubarb and place the strawberries on top, cooking for about five minutes and giving an occasional shake to make sure it’s not sticking. (The goal is the reduce the fruits’ juices to create a bit of a syrup without turning the strawberries to mush.) Sprinkle the 1/3-cup of sugar over the berries, stir and bring the mixture to a boil. Cook for a few minutes, until the mixture thickens slightly. Pour the fruit into you baking dish and let cool while you make the batter.

In a medium-sized bow, whisk the sugar, salt and eggs together until it is light. Slowly add the flour, whisking until combined. Stir in cream, vanilla, cardamom and pepper. Pour the batter over the fruit. Bake for 35-45 minutes, until the cake is puffy and browned on top. Dust with powdered sugar or serve with whip cream or ice cream.

(further apologies to my international friends for the Fahrenheit temperatures and non-metric measurements. You'll have to do the reverse google searches I had to do whilst in China! I can tell you that 350 F is 177 C!)